Hell Train (1985)
"Train d'enfer" (original title)

This movie starts with three men arrested for disorderly conduct at a dance. After they are released, they take a train trip, vent their continuing anger on a young Arab, and kill the man ... See full summary »

Director:

Roger Hanin

Writers:

Jean Curtelin, Roger Hanin

Stars:

Karim Allaoui, Béatrice Camurat, Jean-Claude de Goros

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Karim Allaoui	...	Karim
Béatrice Camurat	...	Mme Salviat
Jean-Claude de Goros	...	Agent grade
Fabrice Eberhard	...	Lacombe
Farid Gazzah	...	Mehdi
Hammou Graïa	...	Arabe assassiné
Nathalie Guérin	...	Mme Guilabert
Roger Hanin	...	Commissaire Couturier
Sam Karmann	...	Duval
Gérard Klein	...	Salviat
Alain Lahaye	...	Poli
Rabah Loucif	...	Farid
Xavier Maly	...	Legoff
Jacques Nolot	...	Lancry
Christine Pascal	...	Isabelle

Storyline

This movie starts with three men arrested for disorderly conduct at a dance. After they are released, they take a train trip, vent their continuing anger on a young Arab, and kill the man by forcing him out of a window on the speeding train. Their crime is witnessed by Isabelle (Christine Pascal) and reported to the police, enabling commissioner Couturier (Roger Hanin) to find the killers. The major problem now is to prevent a race riot when right-wing extremists falsely accuse some Arabs of reprehensible actions and the townspeople gather to demonstrate at the prison.

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Plot Keywords:

train | arab | right wing extremists | riot | police | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

9 January 1985 (France)

Also Known As:

Hell Train

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canal+, Hachette Première, TF1 Films Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in The Cinema Snob: Son of Sleepaway Camp (2012)

User Reviews

Heavy-handed

I was about eleven when this movie was released and it was annouced as a great piece of "educational" cinema. After seeing it again on TV, I must say that it shows its age. The story is very manichean and flat, the characters one-dimensional at best. All french people are ugly, stupid racists, except the jewish police inspector, played by director Roger Hanin himself. All the arabs are nice, racism is just born from the sheer evil of the french. Hanin was never a very subtle actor -nor director- but here he really surpasses himself. Instead of delivering an enlightening sociological piece, he just turns up with a mediocre, preachy politically correct (in the worse sense) comic book. Bleah !